Private Salary Supplements to Public Officials is a Problem
Posted on March 16, 2008 - Filed Under Education, Kansas, Taxes | Leave a Comment
USD 259 (the Wichita public school district) outgoing superintendent Winston Brooks has been receiving a supplemental salary paid for by private interests. This salary supplement, supporters say, was necessary to prevent Mr. Brooks from leaving Wichita for somewhere else where he would be paid more.
One way to look at this salary supplement is that USD [...]
What Passes for Reform in Wichita Public Schools
Posted on March 10, 2008 - Filed Under Education, Kansas, Schools | 1 Comment
Two middle schools in the Wichita school district have performed so poorly for the past six years that they must be restructured, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. (”2 Wichita middle schools must start over,” Wichita Eagle, February 29, 2008) Four other Wichita middle schools are within one year of suffering this [...]
Read More..>>Safe Rooms a Priority in Wichita School Bond Issue
Posted on March 7, 2008 - Filed Under Kansas, Schools | Leave a Comment
The proposed USD 259 (Wichita public schools) bond issue contains a provision to spend about $15 million to build 60 safe rooms in schools. These new rooms will be in addition to the 38 safe rooms already in place. Safe rooms provide the function of a storm shelter, something very good to have in tornado-prone [...]
Read More..>>KanView: A New, Online Database of Revenues and Expenditures in Kansas
Posted on March 7, 2008 - Filed Under Kansas | Leave a Comment
The Kansas Meadowlark reports on the debut of Kanview, and wonders “Why did the Kansas press give this new information resource such little coverage?”
Read the excellent report at http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2008/03-02/index.htm.
Wichita School Bond Issue: Solve Overcrowding This Way
Posted on March 6, 2008 - Filed Under Education, Kansas | Leave a Comment
According to USD 259 (Wichita Public School District) officials, one of the prime reasons a bond issue is needed in 2008 is that schools are overcrowded. New classrooms and new schools must be built, according to district officials, to solve this overcrowding problem.
This is another way to reduce overcrowding, and it won’t require spending any [...]
Open Records in Kansas
Posted on March 6, 2008 - Filed Under Kansas, Open records | Leave a Comment
Recently I was recruited to participate in the Sunshine Blogger Project. Its purpose is to “find out whether America’s governors properly archive the e-mail that comes into and goes out of their offices, and are able to provide copies of those e-mails when members of the public request them.”
I believe that open records and meetings [...]
Property Rights Should Control Kansas Smoking Decisions
Posted on March 4, 2008 - Filed Under Liberty, Property rights | Leave a Comment
A system of absolute respect for private property rights is the best way to handle smoking. The owners of bars and restaurants have, and should continue to have, the absolute right to permit or deny smoking on their property.
Not everyone agrees with this simple truth. Some ask why is there no right to clean air [...]
Wasteful Tax Cuts
Posted on March 4, 2008 - Filed Under Taxes | Leave a Comment
In the February 21, 2008 debate between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, Clinton mentioned the “wasteful tax cuts of the Bush administration.”
That’s a phrase that only a leftist politician such as Sen. Clinton could utter with a straight face, and it tells us a lot about the beliefs of Sen. Clinton and her supporters. (I [...]
How Government Makes Us Unhappy
Posted on March 4, 2008 - Filed Under Taxes | 2 Comments
Arthur C. Brooks, associate professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Affairs, has a commentary in the December 8, 2005 Wall Street Journal titled “Money Buys Happiness.” Rich people, the author tells us, are much more likely to say they are happy. Although we are becoming richer as a whole, the percent of people [...]
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